PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN - Several hundred of the burgeoning population of macaques at Khao Takiab in Hua Hin district will be sterilised in response to numerous complaints they were causing trouble for local residents and visitors to the popular spot.

Officials said 500 of the estimated 3,000 monkeys on the mountain would initially be trapped and sterilised.

The operations would be done at Hua Hin Dog Shelter in Hua Hin municipality from Friday to next Thursday by vets from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) and Mahidol University.

Officials from the DNP set up a large cage in front of Guan Yin statue on Khao Takiab on Thursday to begin catching the monkeys. Fruit was placed inside to lure them into the trap.

A lot of monkeys had entered the cage by Friday morning. Visitors were being asked to stop feeding the animals and instead give the food to officials for use in the cage.

Poj Thapprathum, chief of the Phanthai Norasing Wildlife Reserve in Samut Sakhon, said it had been agreed sterilisation was necessary to curb the macaque population at Khao Takiab.

Villagers had complained the large number of macaques on the mountain were causing problems for local people and visitors to the site. Hua Hin Municipality had requested that action be taken.

Apichart Jakthapnet, resident of Ban Khao Takiab, said the the monkeys had been causing a nuisance for a long time. Everyone agreed it was the right decision to sterilise some of them to reduce the population.
The villagers were satisfied, and confident the trouble caused by the macaques would come to end, he said.

May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!

Big Boy I think you answered your own question, the dog problem is so much bigger that they don't seem keen to tackle it. Maybe also because the aggression of monkeys can affect tourism whereas the poor dogs don't have such a high profile. Sad.

You didn't have to feed those monkeys in the past. They would just take the food from you. They stole food from two guests I took up there. One was a young lady who bought an ice cream on a stick from a shack at the bottom of the mountain only to have it violently taken from her moments later. The Macaque jumped into the air using her chest as a springboard with his legs while snatching the ice cream from her hands. Nearly scared the poor girl to death.

My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?

People used to feed the monkeys on the back road around Hua Hin Golf Course over the hill which goes up to the view point or is used a way of avoiding the railway road past the station for those coming in from Pala U road wanting to go to MV or Bluport. Lots of notices there now telling you not to feed them. I guess the residents got fed up with their behaviour. They can be very nasty animals but the tourists both Thai and foreign love to feed them.

Thais love taking unwanted dogs and cats and dumping them preferably at the local wat. I rescued a forlorn sick cat recently in the bush . Had it treated, sterilised (not happy) and now living a stable life with the in laws. Even wanders to the front street for the daily bintabat.